Jenny is a fitness consultant with 20 years of industry experience as a manager, educator, Les Mills trainer/presenter. Currently she is the owner director of WaterWorks Fitness Ltd. Jenny consults and trains group exercise instructors in the delivery of WaterWorks.
Is it realistic to run Outdoor Aqua Classes in the UK?
There was a time when the summer months were treated as an opportunity for the Great British public to flock to river banks, lakes, beaches and lidos across the length and breadth of the country. These great amenities lost their popularity as health and safety constraints grew and more and more indoor only pools were built.
In 2010 Sport England told us that over twice as many people in the UK swim than cycle and the National Statistics Office confirms 35% of people in the UK swim weighed against 22% who participate in yoga and gym related activities; the only activity that is more popular than swimming is walking. This is a fantastic testament to the plethora of modern indoor swimming pool provision in most towns across the country. In addition to the swimming boom, the Fitness Industry Association reports continued growth in the health and fitness industry. This is all good news for the various Government initiatives to get us more active.
Surely the combination of sun, water and an achievable fitness class to great music with a light hearted feel is an opportunity waiting to be seized upon to get more people moving and enjoying exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. There are many clubs with outdoor pools and a growing number of new and refurbished outdoor pools and lidos across the country; triathlon as a sport is booming and more and more people are enjoying swimming not just in outdoor pools but open water during the summer months, so why do so few facilities operate seasonal outdoor Water Fitness classes?
It is obvious that the weather is not always the best in the UK but should this stop instructors and operators seizing this opportunity; let’s face it outdoor boot-camp style fitness classes have never been so popular and they seem to operate successfully all year. Once in the water and exercising even a British summer is more than warm enough to provide an inspiring exercise environment; and the good news as instructors is if it’s not too hot and sunny it makes life easier.
Due to water temperature constraints it would seem sensible simply to operate outdoor Aqua Aerobics classes between April and September. If water temperatures are adequate to support class operation; and it is important that water temperatures are realistically 28°C or above; during these months then this sits perfectly alongside the appearance of these classes on operators spring and summer fitness class timetables. If classes were only to run June to September then a class should still show on a spring timetable and be marketed to start in June. Classes should also be promoted through a site’s pool activity timetable.
Outdoor Water fitness classes surely provide an opening for the freelance entrepreneur to organize facility hire, market and reap the benefits of running their own fitness classes.
So what if it does rain? Well there is a potential problem with electrical equipment such as stereos, as there is with the use of this sort of equipment on any wet poolside, indoor or out. A simple box raised off the floor to shelter poolside stereo equipment should provide a solution along with the usual requirements for poolside electrical power sources; however many pools have PA systems located indoors and away from poolside in which case rain is not an issue. Water resistant microphones are probably advisable when teaching water classes in any case even though you probably still won’t be getting in the water with one on but a little bit of rain shouldn’t be a problem.
How much rain is too much? A little rain never hurt anyone but heavy rain could make life uncomfortable when teaching an outdoor aqua class and possibly make conditions for the instructor a little slippery; the worst that will happen to participants is that they will get their hair wet too, which might not be popular. If however there are storms and thundery showers with lightening around then even a little rain is too much as lightening is electricity and as previously alluded to electricity and water do not mix.
Thunder storms and rain do then potentially cause a problem as possibly heavy rain and definitely any potential of lightening will mean that an outdoor water class has to be cancelled or relocated indoors where possible. Although this is an unavoidable issue it is one that I am convinced most clients would understand, would not complain and would not allow such an incident to prevent them from returning the following week when the weather is improved. So even the infamous wet British summer shouldn’t be use as a barrier to run fun outdoor water fitness classes.
Benefits of outdoor Aqua classes to instructors and participants…….
In many respects an outdoor water fitness class is more beneficial to participants as it is likely to be more fun, seem less like a workout, therefore making it more appealing to the market such classes generally attract, and therefore it will be a better experience and more likely to lead to adherence. Exercising in the open air is generally healthier for anyone although, even in the water, it possibly makes hay fever and asthma more of an issue, especially asthmas if water temperatures are a little low. Overall though there is very little difference for the participants with respect to the various benefits that can be reaped from an outdoor water fitness class; these benefits are far more dependant on the quality of the class content and its instructor than the indoor or outdoor environment.
As an instructor often teaching outdoors is far more pleasant, with far less problems caused by chlorine and humidity making teaching safer in many respects. The downside of teaching outdoors comes with music use as use of stereo equipment is even more fraught with issues on an outdoor poolside than an indoor, due to wet conditions, power supply issues, environmental noise concerns and poor acoustics to name a few.
Health and Safety Considerations
Teaching a water based fitness class in an outdoor pool requires no additional qualifications to teaching indoors. Within the health and fitness industry for entry onto REPS to teach water based fitness activities a level 2 qualification in Aqua is required facilitating collection of CPD credits in this discipline of fitness.
Whatever qualifications are held it is advisable that a freelance instructor checks with their insurer that they will be covered to teach a water fitness class in an outdoor pool as it is advisable for an employer to check their liability cover for any instructors they employ.
A freelance instructor hiring a facility should always follow basic screening procedures and ensure all clients complete a Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire prior to accepting them in a class.
Participants should bring drinks to poolside in suitable containers as it is likely that access to drink is more restricted in outdoor pools. Other simple health and safety advice and a screening should be given as is required prior to any other exercise class.
With regards to life-guarding any pool the same obligations apply during a water fitness activity as general swimming. It is therefore obligatory that adequate lifeguards are present for the number of people in the pool.
In any public or health club outdoor pool it is likely that risk assessment of poolside will have been carried out and measures be in place for closing the pool in the event of thunder storms so no additional assessment is required. A freelance instructor would be advised to make themselves familiar with this risk assessment and to check the environment of the pool to consider how it might affect their participants and exercise choice, for example many outdoor pools have high sides making access harder and increasing turbulence; water depth is always important to be aware of and consider.
References
“Hung Out to Dry” Chris Ayriss
Aquatic Fitness Professionals Manual AEA sixth edition 2010
Office for National Statistics “Living in Britain”